Clutch chip shot gives Lunde title

Wednesday

The "get in the hole" guy at golf tournaments was bound to get one right.

The "get in the hole" guy at golf tournaments was bound to get one right.

As Bill Lunde struck his chip shot on the left side of the 18th green at Ohio State's Scarlet Course last Sunday, the line was shouted from the grandstands behind him.

This time, it was right. Lunde's shot went in from 30 feet, giving him the title at the Nationwide Tour's Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational.

"The way the grass is, you kind of have to pick it," Lunde said. "You can easily stick the club in the ground and it goes three feet in front of you. I was trying to catch it clean. In the back of my mind, I was making sure I gave it a chance, you never know, it might go in. More than anything, I was just trying to hit a good shot. If it went in, so be it. If not, I was going to go into a playoff."

Lunde finished 5-under par, one stroke ahead of Dustin Bray, who was sitting in the clubhouse awaiting the playoff. After Bray witnessed the chip-in, he walked to the scorers tent with a smile on his face.

"That's how it goes," he said before walking over to congratulate Lunde. "That's good stuff."

Lunde scrambled on the back nine. He led by one shot with four holes to play before bogeys on Nos. 15 and 16 put him in a three-way tie for first with Bray and Brendon De Jonge at 4-under. On the 221-yard par-3 No. 17, Lunde made an 8-foot putt to save par after his tee shot found the right-side bunker.

"I made a great putt on No. 15 to save bogey to start," Lunde said.

"I've been putting good all week. On No. 17 I didn't want to over-think it. I gave it my best shot and it went in."

In 2006, Lunde quit playing competitive golf after spending 2004 and 2005 on the Nationwide Tour. He took a job with a title company and worked in sales and marketing for the Las Vegas Foundation, a group that runs PGA Tour events in Las Vegas.

"I wasn't enjoying any aspect of golf," Lunde said. "I wasn't fully committed to it. I was doing everything because I had to and not because I wanted to. It was time to get away, and I didn't know if I'd ever play golf again."

Lunde then came across a chance to play in the Butch Harmon Vegas Tour last year, a developmental golf mini-tour that started in June 2005.

"I wanted to see if golf was something I was interested in doing again," he said.

"Once I started practicing, I started enjoying it and it felt like that's what I should be doing."

Lunde will have an opportunity to do that for the foreseeable future. He earned $135,000 for his win at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational. That sent him from 28th to seventh on the Nationwide Tour money list with 11 events remaining. The top 25 at the end of the season earn their PGA Tour playing cards.

"Even though I stopped playing, I'm still glad I did," he said.

"I got perspective on how fortunate we are to play golf for a living, travel around and play these great courses. Before, it was something I've been doing for so long, I needed to stop and appreciate what I do."

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